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Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2017 20:36:35 +0100
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Add __toArray() method to objects that would be called
 on cast to array
From: php@fleshgrinder.com (Fleshgrinder)

On 3/15/2017 6:49 PM, Benoît Burnichon wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> Looking at code of PHPUnit, I stumbled upon an inconsistent array
> conversion:
> 
> ------
> /**
>  * @param ArrayAccess|array $other
>  */
> function evaluate($other)
> {
>   // type cast $other as an array to allow
>   //support in standard array functions.
>   if ($other instanceof ArrayAccess) {
>     $data = (array) $data;
>   }
> 
>   $patched = array_replace_recursive($other, $this->subset);
> 
>   // ...
> }
> -----
> 
> This would work only for `ArrayAccess` implementations extending
> `ArrayObject` as shown by https://3v4l.org/ti4aY
> 
> Looking at the manual
> http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.array.php#language.types.array.casting
> ,
> it seems `ArrayObject` class does not comply to array casting because
> integer public properties could also be retrieved. Some tests showed that
> regular class always have string keys even when a `$key = 0; $this->{$key}
> = 'avalue';` is called. In this case, `var_export((array)$object);` returns
> `array('0' => 'avalue')` (Notice the quote around key 0 -
> https://3v4l.org/6QW70)
> 
> What do you think of adding an optional `__toArray()` method to classes
> which would default to current behavior but would allow specifying
> behavior. The way of internal `__toString()` method and could explain
> inconsistency of the `ArrayObject` class?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Benoît Burnichon
> 

Wouldn't it also be possible to add a `Arrayable` interface with a
totally normal `toArray` method? This would avoid littering code bases
even more with feature detection code like
`method_exists($x, '__toString')`.

There would be nothing special to do here, other than implementing that
interface for all core classes for which it makes sense.

The only question that remains (regardless of the strategy) would be: is
it iterable? I guess the answer "yes" is obvious here. Hence,
`Arrayable` would need to extend at least `Traversable`.

-- 
Richard "Fleshgrinder" Fussenegger